Frazier: Spielman’s new role “enhances” his job

In a press conference to announce the move Tuesday, Frazier supported the move enthusiastically.

He said the clear structure will “enhance” Frazier’s job “tremendously.” The Vikings made it clear Spielman will have final say in all roster and personnel decisions. Frazier retains control of his coaching staff.

Spielman didn’t have final say in the past, but he made it clear that he was 100% behind taking Christian Ponder. Frazer said that Ponder will enter next season as the starting quarterback. (As we said earlier, Spielman’s promotion was great news for Ponder.)

The theme of the day was consistency. The Vikings talked about a “clear organizational structure” with “accountability and consistency.”

There were reports that Frazier and Spielman disagreed on some key personnel maters, notably Donovan McNabb. Spielman makes those calls now.

Frazier will decide what to do to fix his defense. He sounded lukewarm about transitioning to a 3-4 defense and didn’t want to “jump on the bandwagon” if it didn’t fit his roster. But he wouldn’t rule out the possibility.

Tuesday’s announcement was just the start of changes in Minnesota. We expect much of the defensive staff to change.

In 2004, Miami (Spielman was GM) had the #20 pick, Minnesota had the #19 pick, and New England had the #21 pick.

Minnesota PLAYED Spielman by convincing him that New England was going to trade up to take Vernon Carey. Minnesota took our 4th round pick and swapped the 19th pick for the 20th.

You would think that the people in Minnesota would remember that, wouldn’t you? In 2004 Minnesota picked the DE Udeze at 20, and he was good, but sadly got sick. The 4th round pick was Mewelde Moore. Dolphins picked Vernon Carey. I’d say Minnesota did better in that deal, wouldn’t you?.

I think Leslie Frazier is a great man but a great head coach he is not. Spielman has made some good moves in the past, drafting Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin, and trading for Jared Allen so I think his promotion is waranted but this roster is a mess and I still haven’t heard a confirmation on a stadium deal. Good Luck boys.

cags777 says:Jan 3, 2012 3:13 PM

To Coach Frazier and GM Spielman: If you want to ensure success and health for Christian Ponder, you must surround him with a strong offensive line.

I would also attempt to bring in at least two free agent quality cornerbacks and get rid of some veterans. But for God’s sakes, don’t switch to a 3-4 defense. Otherwise you’ll have an unhappy Jared Allen and another distraction for the team.

I’m not expecting these suggestions to take us to the playoffs again next year by any stretch. But they’ll at least allow us to be competetive.

I do like the spielman move, but man is there alot for them to do. Defensive staff does need a complete makeover, and I think now that there are some big names out therewe have to be very aggressive. I don’t think switching to a 3-4 is the greatest plan. The line is actually pretty solid, Jared Allen is a beast and I like alot of the things i saw from robison. K Williams flashed signs of the beast he can be still, I think he’s just one of those players that didn’t get pumped up to play all year playing on a pretty bad team. Blackmon is the trendy pick, and a pretty safe one, but I think if the option to trade down is there to get a few more picks and maybe a solid player from a team that should be the first option. Who knows, maybe there’s another atlanta falcons like team that really wants blackmon and is willing to offer a trade similar to last years? (Hopeful thinking). Good luck to the team this offseason. It’ll be interesting to watch, thats for sure.

ruvelligwebuike says:Jan 3, 2012 4:22 PM

“You would think that the people in Minnesota would remember that, wouldn’t you? In 2004 Minnesota picked the DE Udeze at 20, and he was good, but sadly got sick. The 4th round pick was Mewelde Moore. Dolphins picked Vernon Carey. I’d say Minnesota did better in that deal, wouldn’t you?.”
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Spielman should be a good GM. That trinity of power was stupid and full of flaws. Especially if one of the decision makers is Brad Childress who;
1. Traded up for Tarvaris Jackson and kept him for years while constantly bringing in other guys to bench him. Yet always going back to him. No consistency
– Brad Johnson
– Kelly Holcomb
– Gus Ferotte
– Tyler Thigpen
– John David Booty
– Brett Favre

2. Went all in each year without trying to develop new talent for the future. 20 free agents for the new year with an old Vet roster.

Promoting Spielman to GM allows the Vikings to wipe the slate next year completely from GM to Head Coach if things don’t work out & if they do get better then the Wilf’s made the right move. It’s a win/win for the Wilf’s.

contra74 says:Jan 3, 2012 4:50 PM

yevrag3535 says:
Jan 3, 2012 4:10 PM
Who cares, team from top to bottom is a bunch of losers.
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You care which is why you decided to post. Thank you for supporting the Vikings!!!

djbrown0811 says:Jan 3, 2012 5:01 PM

Spielman is a good talent evaluator. His downfall in Miami was a terrible ownership situation and a bad coaching staff. Minnesota isn’t as terrible as their record inidicates. Ponder is a good QB to build around but Spielman has to do that. They need a strong offensive line to protect him, another weapon to throw to (perhaps Blackmon) and that secondary is a mess. They’re a few draft picks away from competing. I think Spielman and Frazier will have this team pointing in the right direction.

No matter how this is spun, the move is clearly about Childress and his control over the team. Like dumping Moss without telling anyone and other decisions. It’s a good move and it also makes the job easier for Frazier.

Blackmon is the trendy pick, and a pretty safe one, but I think if the option to trade down is there to get a few more picks and maybe a solid player from a team that should be the first option. Who knows, maybe there’s another atlanta falcons like team that really wants blackmon and is willing to offer a trade similar to last years? (Hopeful thinking). Good luck to the team this offseason. It’ll be interesting to watch, thats for sure.
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If there is an elite OT sitting at the 3rd pick who can play for the next 10 years at a pro-bowl level the Vikings have to pick him. The O-line and D-line are the 2 most important elements in football.

lorddarkhelmet says:Jan 3, 2012 5:39 PM

Raheem the new d-coordinater for the vikes? Makes some sense

dumplingsrbrown says:Jan 3, 2012 6:11 PM

Spielman can’t take too much credit for Peterson or Harvin. Those were no brainers. The list of draft busts during his time in Minnesota is much longer. The only move that impressed me was the trade for Jared Allen.

The Vikings very obviously needed a change in their power structure, but is shuffling the pieces sufficient? I’d give Spielman and Frazier next year to get back to at least 8-8 or they should both get the heave-ho.

I didn’t mention taking a lineman at 3, thanks for brinin’ it up. I’m just thinking trading down a bit and getting more picks might be a good idea. That standford lineman Martin is entering the draft and he’s a top ten pick, and I can’t remember what the other guys name from standford is but he’s also a good talent and could be taken somewhere in the top fifteen picks. I just used the Blackmon idea as reference to what happened last year with julio jones.

zn0rseman says:Jan 4, 2012 12:25 AM

A few things…

1: Speilman has done an outstanding job at getting quality talent via the draft and free agency. Everyone who drafts players is going to have a few misses here and there but Speilman has hit a lot more home runs than he has had misses, which is rare these days. I for one, am glad the Vikings gave him full roster control.

2: Childress was the real downfall of this organization and it came to a head this year. Tavaris Jackson is terrible, and frankly, he doesn’t have the skills to be a quality backup, let alone a starter. I was shocked that Seattle made him a starter… and just like his time in Minnesota, he folded under even the slightest amount of pressure, had terrible accuracy, and was dramatically outplayed by his backup. However, he wasn’t the only Childress blunder. Trading away or cutting all of our QB’s to protect Jackson (Johnson, Ferrotte, Rosenfels, Thigpen) was inexcusable. Plus, each time Childress over road Speilman on a personell decision, it was always a huge mistake. (See: Greg Blue, trading up for Tavaris Jackson and Tyrell Johnson.)

3: The Vikings are only a couple of players away from being a contender next year. They need a legit WR1, a safety and most importantly… a solid LT.

The first thing the Vikings need to do is address free agency before even thinking about the draft. They need to shell out some money to one of the giant lists of FA WR’s such as (Bowe, V Jackson, Colston, maybe Stevie Johnson but he has character issues). Then I would say go after a DB or 2 I’ve read that the eagles would be looking to trade Samuels for a mid round draft pick which is a steal for the upside he has and hopefully Cook can come back from his run in with the law and maybe bring in a safety to mentor jarmaca Sanford and Abdullah because they’ve shown some spurts of being capable starting safeties in this league but there is room to improve at the safety position.

As for the draft the best scenario would be to trade down to a team like the bengals who are looking at trying to get trent Richardson and then we would get both their firsts and possibly a 3rd. Those 2 firsts would add a lot. Otherwise I’d take matt kalil if he is there and trade back into the late first and take the safety from north Carolina St who led the nation in INT which this team needs is a ball hawk.

contra74 says:Jan 4, 2012 1:48 AM

mediasloppy says:
Jan 3, 2012 5:10 PM
Blackmon is the trendy pick, and a pretty safe one, but I think if the option to trade down is there to get a few more picks and maybe a solid player from a team that should be the first option. Who knows, maybe there’s another atlanta falcons like team that really wants blackmon and is willing to offer a trade similar to last years? (Hopeful thinking). Good luck to the team this offseason. It’ll be interesting to watch, thats for sure.
——
If there is an elite OT sitting at the 3rd pick who can play for the next 10 years at a pro-bowl level the Vikings have to pick him. The O-line and D-line are the 2 most important elements in football.
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I agree that OL and DL are 2 important elements but at the same time we have to look at what can be acquired in the draft as well as what can be acquired via free agency. If a Blackmon type is available in FA then lets go OL but in this scenario I think an OL might have to take a backseat if Blackmon is around. My logic here is that Ponder has shown he has the legs to escape pressure which could buy him time for a deep threat to a real #1 receiver which the Vikes do not have at this time.